By Alexia Droz
Alright, it’s been a month, I know! I’m a little slow coughing out race reports these days.
I’ve been to Xterra Vashon a million times, I like the race and it’s close to home (well, in comparison to other Xterra point series races). This year, I had company since teammates Tim and Rob where racing and teammate Jo was cheer-leading!
The weeks leading to Vashon were definitely interesting. After Xterra Farragut (where I got sick during the race), I took an entire week off, then tried to ease back into regular training during the following weeks. Needless to say, I wasn’t exactly in tip top shape, but I was feeling healthier that I have been in a while.
Race morning was a little cool and overcast. Got set up in transition, warmed up, blah blah blah…
The swim started in 3 waves, with the gals being last 10 minutes after the start of the first wave. I did my best to avoid the jellyfishes and was out of the water in 12ish minutes. Transition was super fast, in 2 seconds I pealed off my super duper Profile Design Goldcell wetsuit.
The bike course is 3 loops and each loop starts with a steep switchback climb, it can get very congested especially on the first loop. Once at the top of the hill, things started rolling a bit, well sort of, my rear tire felt flat, I kept checking but it looked normal. I passed a bunch of guys, and then a woman passed me, I tried to stay on her wheel but couldn’t, either I had no legs, or something was wrong with my wheel or both. On the 2nd loop the photographer informed me I was the sixth women….uhmm… a few minutes later, one of the women I’ve been chasing dropped out with a flat (yeah - she was in my AG), and soon, I had my eyes on 4th. During the 3rd loop, I moved up to 4th, until I clipped a tree and crashed during the downhill, ouch!
Once back on the bike, I realized that I had some foliage stuck in my rear rotor & hub, the wheel was barely moving so I had to pull over, during which I was passed and dropped back to fifth…Finally, I hurried up back to transition, trying to stay close to the fourth place woman.
I rocked T2! 19 seconds! Moved up on spot in the process.
I took off as fast as I could hoping I could handle the run at a decent pace, but my lack of fitness was starting to show. I passed a few guys during the run and never saw any other women. Crossed the finish line in 2h12 and 4th overall/1st in AG…
After the race, I realized my rear wheel was barely moving… no wonder it felt “hard”.
some pictures:
